SAU #35

Fourth Grade

Science Curriculum

SCIENCE AS INQUIRY

NOTES

1a. Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate an increasing understanding of how the scientific enterprise operates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Create a chart on bear growth ( or any animal you choose for animal studies see life science strand)

vs. human growth

Students will be able to:

  1. Describe different types of scientists-astronomer, chemist, geologists, etc.- and the types of questions they ask. How is what scientists do the same or different from what students do in school?
  2. Use collected observations of varied forms of living things to formulate questions about the food they eat (e.g., Do they eat leaves, other insects, pollen?)
  3. Observe and identify characteristics that are atypical and use them as a source for questions (e.g., four-leaf clover, unusual coloration)
  4. Communicate results of their observations to other students and teachers.
  5. Identify variables (things that can change) when exploring a science phenomenon

  

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY

NOTES:

2a.Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to use measuring instruments to gather accurate and/or precise information.

 

Students will be able to:

A. Invent a tool of device for accomplishing a particular measurement task or goal

B. Compare the usefulness of various devices and measurement units for accomplishing a particular measurement task

C. Use tools such as balances, graduated cylinders, tape measures, and stopwatches to make accurate and precise measurements

2b. Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to use technology to observe nature.

 

Students will be able to:

  1. Discuss the value of using a certain observational tool for investigating a particular phenomenon
  2. Describe why tools should be used in a safe and responsible manner

 SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY

NOTES:

2c. Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to analyze, synthesize, and communicate scientific information using technology.

 

Students will be able to:

  1. Share ideas, data or summaries of investigations with children at other schools by electronic communication
  2. Prepare various types of graphs and tables as means for summarizing and analyzing data which they have collected
  3. Use calculators to perform mathematical calculations with data which has been collected and recorded

 

 UNIFYING THEMES AND CONCEPTS

NOTES:

6a. Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to recognize parts of any object or system, and understand how the parts interrelate in the operation of that object or system.

 

Students will be able to:

  1. Assemble a commercial product using manufacturer's instructions (e.g., Legos, plastic models)
  2. Take apart and reassemble simple machines or household appliances
  3. Design and build a simple device with a desired function from accessible materials
  4. Describe or demonstrate how something may not work well (or at all) if a part is missing, broken, worn out, mismatched, or misconnected
  5. Explain, using charts, pictures and models, an important earth, physical or life science system (e.g., solar system, home heating system, ecosystem)
  6. Suggest several possible uses for a simple object (e.g., a washer on a string, a balance beam)

  UNIFYING THEMES AND CONCEPTS

NOTES:

6b. Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate their understanding of the meaning of stability and change and will be able to identify and explain change in terms of cause and effect.

 

Students will be able to:

  1. Conduct an experiment that documents change that is steady, repetitive, or irregular using measurement and graphing (e.g., measure changes in growth of a corn plant stem over periods of days, weeks, and months; position of the moon in the sky during a period of two months; monitor weather conditions; length of hair)
  2. Recognize that some changes are so fast that they are hard to see or measure (e.g., use commercial or student created video images run in slow motion; a toy car rolling down a ramp; one swing of a pendulum)
  3. Identify and explore conditions that cause things to change more quickly or more slowly
  4. Give several examples of steps that one can take to speed up or slow down change

6c. Curriculum Standard: Students will understand the meaning of models, their appropriate use and limitations, and how models can help them in understanding the natural world.

 

Students will be able to:

  1. Create a model for physical object they can't see (e.g., the contents of a sealed box)
  2. Represent a familiar object, event, or process using different media and describe how accurate that representation is (e.g., represent a school bus ride using sound, drawing, painting, sculpting, mime)
  3. Discuss how to change a physical model to make it more realistic

 UNIFYING THEMES AND CONCEPTS

NOTES:

6d. Curriculum Standard: Students will increasingly quantify their interactions with phenomena in the natural world, use these results to understand differences of scale in objects and systems, and determine how changes in scale affect various properties of these objects and systems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students will be able to:

  1. Compare speeds, sizes, and distances as fractions and multiples of one another
  2. Discuss ways to measure size and mass of objects that are either very small or very large, very light or very heavy

  

LIFE SCIENCE: Animal Studies NOTES:
3c. Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to understand that organisms are linked to one another and to their physical setting by the transfer and transformation of matter and energy to maintain a dynamic equilibrium.  
Students will be able to:

A. Show evidence that substances may change form and move from place to place, but that they never appear out of nowhere and never just disappear (e.g., composting investigation)

 

 Worm investigation – vermi- garbage turns into soil;

– Plants and Animals – Macmillan and McGraw Hill.

Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof (Lafayette Regional School)

Website for information on building your own composting bin.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "Getting Started" http://www.wormdigest.org/

 
3d. Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to understand fundamental structures, functions, and mechanisms of inheritance found in microorganisms, fungi, protests, plants, and animals  
Students will be able to:

A. Identify structures of some common organisms (e.g., parts of a plant, major organs in the human body)

Explain how certain structures are related to the successful survival of that organism (e.g., fish are streamlined, carnivores have sharp teeth)

Identify major internal systems of both animals and plants and associate them with their function (e.g., circulatory system and blood flow, nervous system and sensation, plant roots and water intake

Describe how certain attributes or characteristics of living things are related to their life functions or behavior (e.g., bird beaks and bird feet)

Obis Activities Published by Delta Education (Lafayette Regional School has the library set)

Plants and Animals – Macmillan and McGraw Hill.

Life cycle of a fruit fly Delta Kit (Lafayette Regional School)

Ideas for life cycle activities

http://www.col-ed.org/cur/sci/sci15.txt

Compare/contrast human skeleton/ bear skeleton

NH Animal research report
3b. Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to understand how environmental factors affect all living systems (i.e., individuals, community, biome, the biosphere) as well as species to species interactions.  
Students will be able to:

A. Examine the needs of several organisms and determine how the conditions of a particular habitat can limit the kinds of organisms living there

B. Describe relationships and patterns of interdependence (e.g., food chains or webs, aquaria or terraria) among organisms in particular habitat(s)

C. Identify and discuss environmental issues which are important at home and at school

D. Sort materials according to a given property or attribute (e.g., acids/bases, plant/animal, natural/manmade)

 

 Web Sites that have activities/ideas for animal studies:

http://www.proteacher.com/cgi-bin/outsidesite.cgi?external=http://www.allabery.com/courses/webquest/lane/
index.html&original=
http://www.proteacher.com/110006.shtml&title=Animal%20Habitats%20Webquest

http://www.col-ed.org/cur/science.html

How the pH of certain soils is conducive to certain plants

(Paul Williams)

Interactive web site for webs: http://www.units.muohio.edu/dragonfly/webs/

 

 

Sealed jar terrarium

 

  

EARTH SCIENCE: Geology

NOTES:

4b. Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to understand that the Earth is a complex planet with five interacting systems, which consists of the solid Earth (lithosphere), air (atmosphere), water (hydrosphere), ice (cryosphere), and life (biosphere).

 

Students will be able to:

A. Use maps and globes to explain that most of the earth’s surface is covered by water

B. Identify/give examples of geological processes that have shaped New Hampshire’s landscape over long periods of time

C. Identify the four layers of the Earth

D. Explore the theory of Pangaea

E. Explain plate tectonics

F. Identify four types of mountains and how they are formed

G. Identify three types of volcanoes

H. Identify common rocks and minerals and their physical properties

I. Analyze rocks to obtain evidence of weathering and erosion

Web site: Volcano World- http://volcano.und.nodak.edu

Web site: Windows to the Universe (go to teacher activities-some activities may be a little advanced for grade 4 pick and choose what you want): www.windows.ucar.edu

Electronic geological field: http://can-do.com/uci/lessons98/Canyon.html this website takes students on a "field trip" to a glacier and to the Grand Canyon, it also has links to other websites and has lesson plans

The Amazing Earth Model Book by Donald M. Silver and Patricia J. Wynne publisher Scholastic (Lafayette Regional School)

Project Earth Science: Geology publisher NSTA press- excellent resource for activities and background knowledge (Lafayette Regional School)

A Time Before New Hampshire: The Story of a Land and Native Peoples by Michael J. Caduto – excellent book for background information for the teacher. A great resource for NH social studies too. (Lafayette Regional School)

Delta Kit: Earth Movements DSMII: some okay activities- some do not work (Erica Sieberg Lafayette Regional School)

Software: A Field Trip to the Earth from Sunburst company (Lafayette Regional School)

Videos: Bill Nye the Science Guy: (3 different Videos) Earth’s Crust, Erosion, Earthquakes (Lafayette Regional School)

Resource for rock samples: Paul Williams

Student Book: Geology Rocks! By Cindy Blobaum

The Magic School Bus: Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen (Lafayette Regional School)

 EARTH SCIENCE: Geology

NOTES:

4c. Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to understand that the Earth contains a variety of renewable and non-renewable resources.

 

By the End of Grade Four
Students will be able to:

A. Identify two or more renewable and non-renewable resources

B. Describe the processes involved in manufacturing a finished product from raw materials (e.g., gasoline, steel, glass)

C. Participate in activities that conserve or recycle natural resources (e.g., turning off unnecessary appliances, class recycling project, class gardening project)

D. Identify and discuss environmental issues which are important at home and school Investigate what happens to different objects placed outdoors over the course of a school year, such as a steel can, aluminum can, plastic bag, cardboard, limestone, granite, paper

E. Investigate what happens to different objects placed outdoors over the course of a school year, such as a steel can, aluminum can. Plastic bag, cardboard, limestone, granite, paper.

Activities from U.S. Department of Energy. Some of the activities are listed here the disk is available from the U.S. Department of Energy at the following website: http://www.rebuild.org/sectors/SectorPages/EnergyEducation_Resources.asp

Click on the Get Smart about Energy link. (Note all of the following files are PDF files)

Where does it all come from?

Energy Talks

Primary Energy Chants

Energy Pathways

Conserving Energy at School

S.O.S. (Save Our Sources)

 

 

 

If you don’t have time to do a year long study this activity from www.terrificscience.org/freeresources/ may help. (Note this is a PDF file

Nailing Rust

 

PHYSICAL SCIENCE: Magnets/Circuits/Light and Sound/Forces and Motion

NOTES:

5c. Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate an increasing ability to understand the relationship between different types and forms of energy.

 

 

 

Make a list…

First time introduced – Find the pushes or pulls – make up many "interesting" situations and "find," "identify" the pushes and pulls (could use popsicle stick arrows). For more description of activities, see standard 5e below.

Students will be able to:

A. Describe sources of heat, sources of light, sources of their own energy

B. Explain what needs to be done to make things move (e.g., playground equipment, bicycles)

5d. Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate an increasing understanding of how electrical and magnetic systems interact with matter and energy.

Circuits: Insights: Circuits and Pathways, Kendall/Hunt – comes with a whole kit; computer program – ZAP from Edmark (Erica Sieberg Lafayette Regional School); Bill Nye video about electricity

Web site for magnet activities: http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/teacher_resources/magnetism/teach_magnetometer.html

Strengths: A) Check how many paper clips each can pick up – how many clips series of magnets can pick up; B) Measure with a ruler - how far does the paper clip have to be before its attracted to the magnet; C) use a compass – make a map of the magnetic field on a big piece of paper.

Introduced in 1st grade – reinforced here – good inquiry activity as described above

Magnets: Mostly Magnets AIMS activities- excellent source for magnet activities (Lafayette Regional School)

Students will be able to:

A. Explore a variety of electrical circuits with batteries and bulbs

B. Explore the ability of magnets to push or pull objects or each other

C. Explore the strengths of various magnets. Devise an experiment in which they can accurately rank the magnets from strongest to weakest

D. Conduct an investigation to discover which materials are attracted to a magnet

 PHYSICAL SCIENCE: Magnets/Circuits/Light and Sound/Forces and Motion

NOTES:

5e. Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate an increasing understanding of how an unbalanced force exerted on an object causes a change in the state of rest or motion of that object in the direction of the unbalanced force.

  

 

Students will be able to:

A. Explore ways to change the direction of a rolling ball on a hard floor or a hockey puck on ice (e.g., blowing, deflecting, colliding) and what these effects have in common

B. Explore the relationship between mass, force, and motion (e.g., how increasing the mass carried by a snail affects its rate of motion, how difficult it is to stop themselves when running at different speeds)

C. Explore various ways to support a heavy book at a certain distance off the floor, such as suspension from a rope, directly holding it, putting a table under it, and what these approaches have in common

Introduced: Bowling ball and croquet mallet – Operation Primary Physical Science – Paul Williams workshop leader. Bowling ball activity can be found at the following web sites: (Note: these are activities form teacher workshops, so the explanation is for teachers, you can take these activities and use them in your classroom, but you will probably want to make the scientific explanation "kid friendly"

Web site for the science behind the activity (note this contains tons of information you will want to focus on pages: 11, 12,14, 15,16)

http://www.phys.lsu.edu/dept/opps/Download/_MovObjects.pdf

Web site for bowling ball participant sheets (focus on page 3, 5)

http://www.phys.lsu.edu/dept/opps/Download/_MovObjectsPart.pdf

 

 

 5f. Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate an increasing understanding that energy can be transmitted by waves, using light and sound as examples.

Introduction to waves – slinkies Activity from Operation Primary Physics. Paul Williams is an instructor for this. If you have questions, contact him. This link will bring you to the "science" behind the experiment. These are PDF files. (See pages 48-end)Please remember these activities are designed for teachers. You will need to take this information and make it "kid friendly" for your students.

http://www.phys.lsu.edu/dept/opps/Download/_SoundMusic.pdf

This link will bring you to the student pages for the activity (see pages 31-33)

http://www.phys.lsu.edu/dept/opps/Download/_SoundMusicPart.pdf

Experiment for concentration of sound (This experiment comes from Operation Physics-see Paul Williams for more information)

Experiment: Do Solids Conduct Sound Better Than Air? (Another Operation Physics experiment)

Prism reinforced – Introduction for lenses – inquiry –

ZAP computer program (Lafayette Regional School)

Bill Nye Videos on Light, Sound, Sight (Erica Sieberg Lafayette Regional School) Also available for purchase.

Stop Faking It!Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It: Light By William C. Robertson – excellent resource for understanding the "science’ behind light. (Lafayette Regional School)

Available from NSTA Press http://store.nsta.org/

Ray’s Reflections AIMS Activities- resource for activities with light, mirrors, reflection (Lafayette Regional School)

Discover! Light & Sound by Milliken Publishing Company more activities (Lafayette Regional School)

Awesome Experiments in Light and Sound by Michael DiSpezio – great short activities to explore light and sound (Lafayette Regional School)

Students will be able to:

A. Observe that waves in a container start at a source, travel along the surface, and bounce off objects, just as do light and sound

B. Explore how sound and light can be concentrated (e.g., using reflectors or lenses, megaphones)

C. Utilize different types of prisms and lenses to observe what happens when light passes through them

 PHYSICAL SCIENCE: Magnets/Circuits/Light and Sound/Forces and Motion

NOTES:

5g. Curriculum Standard: Students will demonstrate an increasing understanding that heat is the product of many natural processes.

 

Students will be able to:

A. Explore how rubbing various things together will produce different amounts of heat

B. Identify sources of heat produced by natural and manufactured objects

C. Observe that most things that produce light also produce heat

  

Instructional Resources for Grade_______

 

 

 

Resource

Location

Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terms of Grade ________

 

 

Term:

Definition